As a matter of fact, the whole story started with the column Volta presented in 1800, when electric power played the main role. Better to say the man who fabricated a device which flooded light to the world and which was put at the service of mankind so that this invisible something was made to do work.

In terms of electricity, the world can owe a lot to the Hungarian science and scientists. Names like Ányos Jedlik, András Mechwart, Károly Zipernowsky, Ottó Bláthy, Miksa Déri all stand next to Siemens, Oersted and Ampere. It is not by any chance that as early as the turn of 19th and 20th centuries Budapest had an electricity network that supplied the inner city and a number of Hungarian towns established municipal electricity plants as well. Budapest was the first in the world to stop horse-tram and to start operating it with electricity; thus Budapest was the second to build an underground tramway in Europe.

We have to recall all this when we pronounce the name of the Hungarian Power Companies, which is a large company and where a lot of other companies belong: Paks Nuclear Power Plant Company, Vértes Power Plant Company, the National Power Line Company, the Gas Turbine Power Plant Operation and Maintenance Ltd., Electricity Industry Commercial and Service Providing Ltd. (VILLKESZ), Power Plant Investment Company (ERBE), MVM ADWEST Marketing und Handelsgesellschaft GmbH based in Vienna and MVM Partner Energy Trading Co. There is a transmission network with a length of nearly 3400 kilometres, with over twenty substations – and this also belongs to MVM Rt. MVM Rt. is an independent company with long traditions and in charge of a group of companies assuming a share commeasurable with its weight in solving social concerns in the past few years. The strong commitment to environmental and social issues can be seen in its actions of support, sponsoring and donations, which are eventually the cornerstones in the actions of the company for the good of society. MVM is supporting music, sports and environmental protection in Hungary. The company is also supporting our intellectual values and technical culture. Our employees, however, are not only at the giving but also at the receiving end: the old and the children, the sick and the needy all thank for the love and care.

Help is widely called for: a lot of foundations, institutions, hospitals and associations reckon with support. It is not easy, therefore, to decide who to help and who needs support the most. It is not easy for MVM either to make decisions. Applicants are more than the amount to be distributed. The International Pikler Emmi Public Foundation and Pikler Institute, which has been working as a public foundation for some years now, receives support from MVM to cover its expenses. They also get a lot of help from abroad as the method of the internationally also renowned excellent paediatrician is used all over the world. The Pikler method says that right after birth every child should be placed in a family, which costs a lot of money. The network of fosterage has not developed fully yet because there are a lot of obstacles in the way. Therefore, children looking for fosterage come from always worsening social background and with always growing difficulties. We have also supported the Flóra Foundation, which opens up the world for people suffering from the enigmatic disease, autism. The foundation helps them to get out of their closed world and integrate into the society. This foundation with the aim to regularly and continuously develop children and youngsters with autism and cumulative traumatism is the only institution in Hungary to apply the Bánffy method in developing therapy. With developing the children the foundation wants to achieve that they can stay in the family ambience for a lifetime so that they master basic self-sufficiency and participation in the work of the family.

We also support Virgonc (Hearty) Foundation, which helps health institutions to acquire life-saving medical equipment. This leads us to another stage in the coherent and consistent support system of MVM Rt.

It is also about children only a bit older that is to say the second line of academic fledglings. We support the effort to find the value in talented young people and this way we also support the technical and higher education. The Budapest Technical University, the Corvinus University of Economics and Kandó Kálmán Technical College have been supported by MVM Rt. for many years now. The support consists of financial help as well as providing intellectual background for students and lecturers, which allows them to test their knowledge in practice. The Eötvös Lóránd Society of Physics is also to be mentioned here. It is a scientific institution and our partner together with the Szilárd Leó Talent-Nursing Foundation and the Energetic Technical School and College in Paks to organise the Szilárd Leó National Competition in Physics. It fulfils the task, which was laid down by professor Marx György, the founder of competition in physics: to find the talented young people in the Hungarian schools and to show the beauty of modern physics to students (and teachers) of secondary schools by proving that it can be learnt and taught at secondary schools.

The example of our great forebears proves that it is worth doing. The Hungarians have always excelled themselves in technical sciences in general and in energetics in particular. The followers of Volta such as Ottó Titusz Bláthy, Miksa Déri, Károly Zipernowsky have their place not only in the pantheon of Hungarian science but also in the CD series presenting the great men of the Hungarian science and technology. The CD-s present these people one by one. MVM Rt. is one of the domestic and foreign institutions mentioned in the first place as contributing professionally to inventions such as the transformer system of parallel-coupled current, the triumphant age of the global and Hungarian electrotechnics, the conditions of inventing the transformer and the Museum of Hungarian Electrotechnics. This Museum collects the objects used in Hungarian electrotechnics and shows its development from the beginning up today. Generators, engines, transformers, electrical instruments and appliances, household machines and devices of lighting, electrical locomotives, interactive experiments and discharge of high voltage are shown to familiarise the visitors with this profession. MVM Rt. is one of the main sponsors of this Museum.

Now let us go further. When walking around in the countryside and looking at the high-voltage transmission lines, we will see that human intervention is for the sake of man. Sometimes, however, this ability to change nature can change our natural environment, the living world irreversibly. It is, therefore, natural for MVM employees to take part in restoring the values of nature wherever it is possible. They plant young trees, for example, as they acknowledge and respect the importance and social implications of fundamental values such as environmental protection. In addition to spending on environmental protection in line with the provisions of law, MVM and the Group set a good example in approaching environment and responsibility for the living environment. The more young trees and forests we have, the cleaner the air will be. This is a well-known fact for the junior school children in Ócsa and Alsónémedi, who planted 500 poplars on the initiation of MVM Rt. a short time ago. They know that planting trees will slow down the increase in the average temperature of the earth. The poplars are growing beautifully, attended by diligent hands and so are the man-made stork nests on the top of piles along the roads. This bird typically belonging to the Hungarian countryside feels at home again in Hungary from spring to autumn, which is shown by the number in their reproduction. Once talking about birds, let us turn our attention to a bird-hospital as well. It is housed in a quiet corner of Hortobágy far from the noise of the world. The hospital cures birds suffering not only from natural diseases, injury or infection but also from injuries caused by human activities such as poisoning, road accidents or poaching. Hundreds and thousands of protected birds could return to their natural habitat as a result of hospital treatment. Though this hospital is for sick birds, no one will drive away the ill wild-pigs, deer, otters or badgers. They will also find a transitional home in the hospital. A lot can be owed to the support of MVM Rt. for this well functioning hospital.

So the environment is just as important for MVM Rt. as music or education. MVM Rt. has been committed to promoting classical music since 1999. This support has sponsored classical music concerts, releasing records and it also helped educational institutions, young artists and orchestras to introduce themselves to the public. In the past few years the success of nearly two hundred concerts and a number of festivals reveal the real intention of MVM Rt.: to offer real musical delicacy and experience to the large number of music-lovers. We support, for example, the Forrás (Spring) Musical Club concerts, the Winter Gala Evenings – concerts at Christmas, New Year’s Eve or on the first day of New Year – the Budapest Chamber Concerts, the carnival concerts for children in the big hall of the Academy of Music, the International Harp Festival, the International Liszt Festival in Gödöllő, the Church Concerts at Balaton, the European Concerts, which have gained recognition both in the Hungarian and international world of music.

The MVM Christmas Concert has been high on the calendar of the Hungarian life of music since 1999. As the main sponsors of Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart concerts, we have added a lot to the high standard of Hungarian music. The now world-famous International Harp Festival in the Gala Hall of the Royal Castle in Gödöllő was also supported by MVM at its infancy. MVM or one of the companies in the Group has also sponsored the Summer Opera and Ballet Festival. Puccini’s Turandot, for instance, was supported by Paks Nuclear Power Plant.

We can go on and on with the list of wonderful concerts promoted in the past few years. One of them, however, should be highlighted: the carnival concert for children as the Hungarian Power Companies have been indulging the youngest with classical concerts free of charge for 6 years. These are concerts for children from institutes as well. The concerts are connected with collecting toys and children at the concerts endear children from institutions with the toys they bring along to the concerts. This is part of the caritative activity, which is to help the handicapped, the needy, the sick and orphans as well as the lonely old people. A nice word and a warm heart are particularly important for them.

The list of supports, however, would not be complete without taking about our commitment to sports. We sponsor the MVM Duna Marathon Mountain Bike race and we were also among the sponsors of the in-door athletics world championship organised in Budapest in March.

MVM management is also attentive to social concerns. A letter mailed about a month ago to the partners expresses well this attitude to society, which is well demonstrated in one sentence from the letter: ”The Hungarian Power Companies Ltd. has a high sense of responsibility for mitigating the existing social problems. We also feel committed to giving help to those who need it and in token of this help we decided to spend the money allocated for year-end presents to our partners on children with social and physical handicap instead.”